I casi di diabete doppio 347 Milione

The number of adults with diabetes has doubled world-wide over the last three decades to nearly 350 million and increased nearly threefold in the U.S., a sign that the epidemic will impose an ever-greater cost burden on health systems.

The latest calculation, based on a study published in the British journal Lancet, found that the number of adult diabetics jumped to 347 million from 153 milioni di euro nel 1980.

According to the study, il U.S. aveva 24.7 million diabetics in 2008, nearly triple the level of three decades ago. The estimate includes people afflicted with type-1 diabetes, which is a disorder of the body’s immune system, as well as the far more common type-2 diabetes, a chronic disorder marked by high levels of sugar in the blood.

While about 70% of the increase was attributed to population growth and aging, the balance was linked to changing diets, rising obesity and growing rates of physical inactivity.

“Diabetes is a long-lasting and disabling condition, and it’s going to be the largest cost for many health systems,” said Majid Ezzati, a professor of global environmental health at Imperial College London and a lead author of the study.

Many public-health experts consider the rise in diabetes to be more worrying than the rise in high blood pressure rates and cholesterol levels. While rates for those conditions have dropped in some parts of the world, type-2 diabetes is becoming more common almost everywhere, and is increasingly showing up in children.

There are effective drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol, but it’s harder to prevent or treat diabetes. The condition is more debilitating for many patients: It occurs when the cells of the body cannot take up sugar in the form of glucose, and can lead to kidney failure, blindness or amputation of limbs.

In the U.S., the total cost of diagnosed diabetes was estimated at $174 miliardi di euro nel 2007, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The latest study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization, represents a more comprehensive calculation of diabetes prevalence than some previous estimates. Il 347 million estimate in Lancet, per esempio, is nearly 25% higher than an estimate of 285 million adult diabetics reported in a 2009 studio.

Doctors commonly test for diabetes by measuring the level of glucose in the blood at least eight hours after a person ate the last meal. A higher-than-normal level is effectively a diagnosis of the condition.

The Lancet study incorporated glucose measurements from 2.7 million adults across the world. The proportion of diabetic men rose to 9.8% in 2008 da 8.3% in 1980. The proportion of women with the disease rose to 9.2% da 7.5% nel periodo di tempo stesso.

Circa 138 milioni di diabetici adulti vivono in Cina e in India e un altro 36 milioni negli Stati Uniti. e Russia. Among high-income countries, the increase in diabetes was highest in North America but relatively small in Western Europe.

The picture isn’t clear cut, tuttavia. Per esempio, while diabetes increased slightly in Japan over the three decades, levels stayed flat in South Korea and Thailand, which Dr. Ezzati attributes to healthier lifestyles in the latter two countries.

Similarly, while the increase in the average American’s body mass index—a measure of body fat—was much greater than the equivalent rise in India, the rise in diabetes levels was similar in both populations.

Dr. Ezzati says this puzzle could be explained by what’s known as the Barker hypothesis: when a fetus is deprived of adequate nutrients in the womb, it may become predisposed to various ailments in later life, compreso il diabete.

Fonte: The Wall Street Journal